Machine Head viert tiende verjaardag van drummer

Artist news 27-12-2005 21:48

Machine Head-gitarist Phil Demmel spreekt lovend over Dave in vergelijking met eerdere drummers waarmee hij speelde:

"I've been pretty blessed to have played in bands with killer drummers: Perry Strickland (Vio-Lence) had the hands and the fills, while Mark Hernandez (Vio-lence, Torque and Technocracy) had the meter and the consistency. Dave has it all, the complete drumming package. Amazing ideas, writes riffs and just plain looks cool! I look at his kit and can't imagine how he hits those things. His kicks are a mile apart, his toms practically flat. He's a frickin' freak! Personally, I'm voting for a 10 minute solo on the next tour."

Dave McClain werd onder de aandacht van Machine Head gebracht door Sepultura-drummer Igor Cavalera. Robert Flynn, frontman van Machine Head, herinnert zich dat de band na Igors enthousiast verhalen razend nieuwsgierig was geworden en nogal teleurgesteld was toen bleek dat Dave bij zijn oude formatie Sacred Reich wilde blijven spelen:

"At first I was a little miffed, but after a couple of days, a weird respect for him came out of it. I knew what we were offering him. We were doing far better than they were doing, but he chose to be loyal. I thought it showed a great deal about his character.

Machine Head begon daarop aan een lange serie audities waarop onder meer Tommy Buckley van Soilent Green, Downset/Bloodsimple-drummer Chris Hamilton, Ill Nino-drummer Dave Chavarri en sessiedrummer Deen Castronovo [Journey, Ozzy Osbourne] afkwamen, evenals de destijds onbekende drummer Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall ) die persoonlijk wat CD's met zijn kunnen kwam afleveren.

Nadat de formatie door Australië en Eropa tourde met invaldrummer Walter Ryan, en door als headliner door de VS trok ter promotie van het album "Burn My Eyes" met Will Carroll achter de kit, werd duidelijk dat beide slagwerkers op zich prima van wanten wisten, maar toch niet waren wat Machine Head zocht.

Gelukkig kondigde Dave McClain anderhalve maand later aan alsnog interesse te hebben om bij Machine Head te gaan spelen. Op 10 december 1995 vlood Dave naar Oakland en op 16 december vond de eerste try-out in de oefenruimte plaats. Flynn:

"After he volunteered to start off with 'Davidian' (which impressed us, as that took balls) 5 and 1/2 minutes later... we knew we had our guy. The three of us sat there clutching our jaws tight (so that they wouldn't drop to the floor) with one eyebrow raised, trying not to smile, silently saying to each other, 'Oh my fucking god, that was sick! We ran him through 'Block', and a good chunk of others, which he slayed, and a few days later tried out one more drummer (Brent Payne of Stuck Mojo) but in the end we knew we had found our guy. Maybe it was that McClain 'wingspan', maybe it was how hard and consistently he pounded the fucking drums, maybe it was that he was the funniest complainer we'd ever met... but we knew he was our guy."